scared - Wedding Catering Cost

Did you set a budget before the wedding before starting to book vendors and put down deposits?

Yes, we did. But originally our venue was supposed to have an in-house caterer that we were to use and that fell through, so we now have to use one of the outside venue preferred caterers.

Maybe cut down the guest list?

If your contract with your venue initially included catering - I would revisit that and have them reduce the cost by the amount they were charging for the catering services, otherwise they are not fulfilling a contract. Hopefully that will help balance the costs a bit. Make sure to review the contract carefully and be able to reference it when you speak to your venue - they should then be able to provide a hard copy of a new contract and new venue price. This can be a potentially uncomfortable conversation, but one that definitely needs to be had!!!

Catering is expensive, it was one of our more expensive items as well on our wedding day. My biggest thing is to consult the original budget that you created and see if this caterer fits into that figure? (or will it fit that figure once your venue adjusts their contract?) If not, then you have two options: keep moving, or reallocate some of your budget for the caterer you really want - maybe florals aren't as big of a deal but the two of you are total foodies! Don't let this one snag make you regret all of your decisions so far. You've put a lot of time, research, and love into finding and booking the vendors you have so far! You still have over a year to save up wedding funds, finish planning, and enjoy the rest of your engagement. If that means you deal with the venue and then relax and pick wedding planning back up in a month or two, that is totally OKAY! Good luck

I would talk to the caterer and tell them how you are feeling. If more guests RSVP yes, you'll have to pick cheaper food options. If less RSVP yes, you'll get a nicer meal. Regardless X is your budget and make sure they can work with that.

I am in the same boat as you! Catering is going to be the biggest chunk of money for the wedding so far (aside from alcohol which his parents are covering) and I'm freaking out too. The meals themselves are affordable ($12.50 per person buffet style) but not only does our catering cover just the food but it's everything else that bumps up the price as well that I'm worried about which our caterer covers including linens, cake, cake cutting fee, setup and takedown fees, chinaware fee, water service fee, coffee... eh and there's probably so much more.

I'd say break down your catering cost and see what else is contributing to the cost and then that might help you understand where the money is going more. There may be some areas that you can cut and make cheaper if you handle it yourself, but in our situation we're just going to settle and have them cover everything while paying a larger price for it all for the simplicity and ease of having them do most of the work for us. You have plenty of time until March 2021 to save too so I wouldn't sweat it too much. Having a conversation with your caterer to see what you can do to lower the costs may help as well. Reception costs are really where the bulk of money for any wedding will be going to. Good luck!

I agree with others that you need to start by revisiting your original numbers and figure out how far off the current estimate is from what you originally budgeted for catering. Generally, catering is a huge amount of the total wedding budget (for daughter's wedding it was fully 50% of the total budget of $32,000; $4500 was the open bar and almost $11500 for food, for 100 guests, including tax & service charge). If it's just too much, as others have mentioned your options are cut your guest list (biggest "bang for your buck" if you're ruthless; our catering was $160 pp, so reducing headcount helps), interview other catering options (if your venue allows it), or talk with the caterer about ways to reduce your bill (fewer, cheaper options, limiting beverage selections, etc.). Hang in! It's almost always scary when the budget numbers start to get VERY REAL, but it will probably be okay.